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Boren Fellowships Preferences

Boren Fellowships are awarded with preference for countries, languages, and fields of study critical to U.S. national security. Preference is also given to students who will study abroad for longer periods of time, and who are highly motivated by the opportunity to work in the federal government.

Countries

Boren Fellows may study abroad in Africa, Asia, Central & Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Latin America, and the Middle East. Students may apply to study in any country outside of the United States, Western Europe, Canada, Australia, or New Zealand.

The program will give preference to applicants planning to study in one of the emphasized countries in green. We do not anticipate sending students to the countries in blue in 2019. You may still apply for a 2019 Boren Award to study in one of these countries; however, you must include a viable alternate plan in another appropriate country for the same language of study. Please visit our preferred countries of study for more information.

Languages

All Boren Fellows must study a foreign language appropriate to the country in which they are studying abroad. The program will give preference to applicants studying one of the following emphasized languages:

African Languages

Akan/Twi

Albanian

Amharic

Arabic

Armenian

Azerbaijani

Bambara

Belarusian

Bengali

Bosnian

Bulgarian

Cambodian

Cantonese

Croatian

Czech

Gan

Georgian

Haitian

Hausa

Hebrew

Hindi

Hungarian

Indonesian

Japanese

Javanese

Kanarese

Kazakh

Khmer

Korean

Kurdish

Kyrgyz

Lingala

Macedonian

Malay

Malayalam

Mandarin

Moldovan

Nepali

Pashto

Persian

Polish

Portuguese

Punjabi

Romanian

Russian

Serbian

Sinhala

Slovak

Slovenian

Swahili

Tagalog

Tajik

Tamil

Telegu

Thai

Turkmen

Turkish

Uighur

Ukrainian

Urdu

Uzbek

Vietnamese

Wolof

Yoruba

Zulu

Both historically and contemporarily, South Africa has been regionally and internationally...

- Nikki Kalbing

Boren Fellowships | Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, Social Sciences See profile

Fields of Study

The program will give preference to applicants planning to study in one of the following fields of study:

Agricultural and Food Sciences

Area Studies

Business and Economics

Computer and Information Sciences

Foreign Languages

Health and Biomedical Science

History

International Affairs

Law

Mathematics

Sciences and Engineering

Social Sciences

Political Science and Policy Studies

As we cannot list all countries, languages, and fields that are critical to U.S. national security, we are interested in applications that fall outside the preferences, if the candidate can make a compelling case that such study can contribute significantly to U.S. national security and the goals of the program.

Length of Study

Boren Fellowships awards are made for a minimum of 12 weeks and maximum of 12 months. Boren-funded programs can begin no earlier than June 1, 2019 and no later than March 1, 2020. Overseas programs may begin no later than March 1, 2020 and can be no longer than one year.

Boren Fellowships promote long term linguistic and cultural immersion. Therefore, all overseas study must be a minimum of 12 weeks, and preference will be given to applicants proposing overseas programs of 6 months or longer. However, applicants proposing overseas programs of 3-6 months, especially those in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields are encouraged to apply.

Commitment to Government Service

Preference will be given to applicants who demonstrate a desire for a career in the federal government. In exchange for funding, Boren Awards recipients commit to working in the federal government for at least one year after graduation. Preference will be given to applicants who demonstrate a longer term commitment to government service.

The NSEP Service Requirement stipulates that an award recipient work in the federal government in a position with national security responsibilities. The Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, State, or any element of the Intelligence Community are priority agencies. If an award recipient demonstrates to NSEP that no appropriate position is available in one of these agencies, the award recipient must seek to fulfill the requirement in a position with national security responsibilities in any Federal department or agency. Approval of service outside of a priority agency is contingent upon satisfactory demonstration of a full and good faith effort in accordance with conditions established by NSEP. If an award recipient demonstrates to NSEP that no appropriate position is available in the Federal Government, the award recipient may petition NSEP to fulfill the requirement in an education position directly related to the language[s] or area[s] studied by the individual under NSEP support or to another language or area where the individual has demonstrated competency. The education option is available only after exhausting all opportunities to fulfill the requirement in the Federal Government in accordance with conditions established by NSEP.

The duration of the NSEP Service Requirement is one year or the duration of assistance provided under the program, whichever is longer.

Boren Fellows must begin fulfilling the service requirement within two years of graduation.